People's Party of South Ossetia demands to extend passport exchange term till two years

The People's Party of South Ossetia is concerned about the statement of President Eduard Kokoity about the deadline set up for citizens of South Ossetia in changing their passports: it is planned to terminate the procedure next year, while the Party demands to prolong the term. The statement of the Party notes that the passport exchange campaign was conceived with the aim to deprive the citizens viewed as dangerous for the authorities of their citizenship and, accordingly, of their suffrage.

Let us note here that on September 13 Eduard Kokoity said, when speaking at the expanded meeting of top managers and activists of the political organizations of South Ossetia, that by June 2011 it is planned to finalize issuance of passports of citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia.

Mr Kokoity demanded that the respective agencies should scrutinize the issue of granting citizenship of South Ossetia and toughen the terms. "All the citizens who will receive new passports should pass special check on their involvement in any criminal activities in the territory of South Ossetia and Russian Federation. It is necessary in order not to let doubtful persons to become RSO citizens," the "Res" Agency quotes the head of the state as saying.

The statement of the People's Party was adopted on September 21. It notes that "it is at least surprising that the decision to exchange RSO passports was so hasty - within eight months; in fact, there is no special need to exchange them."

The People's Party believes that such short terms set up for passport exchange may be explained by the local authorities' start of preparing the presidential election to be held in November 2011.